[Clipart] OCAL identified by IBM as resource for Linux migrations

[Jonadab the Unsightly One]

Nicu Buculei <nicu at apsro.com> writes:

> compared with Writer, i think OpenOffice.org Draw is a better tool
> for this job,

I've found that the handling of Draw objects in Writer is better than
the handling of text in Draw.  (You did know that you could open up a
Draw document, create whatever in it, and copy/paste to Writer,
right?  It Just Works.)

> but, IMO, Inkscape is (except printing) *much* better. (OOo can't
> draw antialiased shapes, can't import our SVG clipart etc.)

I generally use Inkscape to export the SVG as a PNG at a resolution
high enough (based on factors like the DPI of my printer and the size
I'm going to make the thing) so that it will look good, and then
import that into Writer.  This uses some RAM, but it gets good
results.

Writer handles text much better than Draw, and it produces nice enough
printer output (or PDFs) for my purposes.  Granted, if it could import
SVG directly and keep it as such (still vector and fully scalable and
everything) I'd like that even better.

>> Now, there's a thought.  I suppose you could do the whole card in
>> Inkscape, as far as that goes, and then submit the whole thing.
>> The only thing that worries me about that is the fonts -- other
>> users may not have the same ones installed on their systems.  Does
>> Inkscape have any way to trace around the letters in your card and
>> create SVG shapes based on them?  Also, what would the copyright
>> implications be of doing so with non-public-domain fonts?
>
> Inkscape can convert text to paths.  version 0.40 can trace bitmaps,
> but i think converting text to paths is enough in this case.

Yes, that should be enough to get the job done.  It would still lack
the nice paragraph settings and such of Writer, which would be really
handy, but it could get the job done.  (Hmmm...  up to now I hadn't
considered Scribus either, but it also might be suitable for this.)

If we were to put the resulting cards in SVG form on OCAL, does
anybody here know whether there are any copyright issues with
non-public-domain fonts converted to paths in this fashion?  Is that
fair use, or with the result being still vector and scalable is it not
transformative enough?  Anyone know for sure?  That's the sort of
thing I'd hate to find out about ex post facto.

-- 
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